Everything that is happening in Syria is simply a rehash of the way that Libya and Iraq were destroyed by the American-led West. Leaders of those two countries met with an ignominious end

First it was Afghanistan, then Iraq, after that it was Libya ,and now it is Syria. The targets of US intervention in the civil war of West Asia are never ending. The US supported the separatist movement in Syria and a civil war in full swing has been the result, a war that has brought with it violent confrontations between President Bashar al-Assad and his Islamist population. Sowing the seeds of instigation have been the hawks of American foreign policy like Fouad Ajami and many more (for the uninitiated, Fouad Ajami — adviser to former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, as well as close aide and associate of Paul Wolfowitz, former Deputy Secretary of Defence and lead architect of the Iraq war — had been a staunch supporter of the Iraq war) And now, America is playing the same game in its war cry against Syria. If the Iraq war were to be a benchmark, then we clearly know that there is practically no repentance in the American establishment towards the destruction of Iraq, which was essentially carried out under a false pretext of Saddam Hussein allegedly possessing weapons of mass destruction — in fact the war was justified and defended in Washington, not even considering the fact whether Mr George W Bush had the moral right to issue such a decree to attack another nation. In the same lines, America brought its one-time friend Libya literally to ruins by aiding the rebels against the Government.

In politics, they say, history repeats itself. In July last year, by a 326-90 vote, the US Senate passed a critical military spending Bill, thereon allocating more than $600 billion for defence and military purposes. The Bill specifically allocated money for training the US military for war with Iran. Furthermore, the Bill included specific plans on mobilisation of fighter aircraft, arms and ammunitions for war against Iran by all possible routes viz sea and air.

Within a month after the military spending Bill was passed, Mr Barack Obama ordered a new and highly incisive war strategy, which had its roots in this Bill. Mr Obama signed a secret order that empowered the US Army to help Syrian rebels against the Assad Government. This order will also allow CIA, in particular, to aid the rebels with all sorts of tools and techniques to fight Assad’s regime. To put it in better words, it would allow rebels to augment their revolt to a level of full-fledged war, of course with full support from America.

A New York Times reports reveals that CIA is now actively facilitating arms and weapons transfer to Syria via Turkey, which not only is adding fuel to the on going friction but is also making the entire revolt extremely violent and tragic. This may force the current regime to use deadly weapons against the rebels, which in turn would act as a veil for the West to intervene and eventually declare a full-fledged war against the country. A UN report found out recently that war crimes and atrocities were being committed not only by the Syrian forces but also equally by the rebels; clearly, the war is playing exactly according to the tunes that America wanted. It finally doesn’t matter how the war escalates; as long as it does, America would have a justification for Iraq part II.

Interestingly, a broken Syria will fulfill America’s 2013 Iran war ambition too. With Syria’s collapse, Iran would be left isolated in the region and would have virtually no support. This very war would weaken Iran, a country that has been pushing for a new front in the northern tier of Middle East along with Syria and Lebanon; and these three countries would have been the key players in the region, which is the one of the leading reasons that has made America act against Mr Assad.

Interestingly, ‘safety zones’ and ‘no-fly zones’ have already been created in Syria by US, which is evocative of the run-up to the second Gulf war that flattened Iraq. The building blocks of military strikes are increasing with each passing day. Even though farsighted voices inside US are advising the establishment to withdraw from the region, the Obama Administration in its desperate bid to win the November presidential election would try to win some brownie points from its electorate by removing the perceived ‘villain’ in Syria.

Moving further, the reasons for America’s (and its allies) interest in Syria’s war is not confined to chopping up Iran but also includes their greed in expanding their ownership over oil and gas reserves. A recent US Geological Survey found around 100 trillion cubic feet of gas and 1.5 billion barrels of oil in the Levant Basin which interestingly also covers Syria. No other country, except for Syria, could have created issues for US and its allies if they were to indulge in energy exploration in the above mentioned basin. For records, US has already imposed sanctions under the Iran Sanctions Act over the Syrian state-run oil company Sytrol, which apparently supplied fuel to Iran in the recent past.

With Ms Hillary Clinton openly meeting the so-called Syrian Opposition leaders in Istanbul in August 2012 and claiming that she was already planning for Mr Assad’s departure, it’s a no-brainer how shamefully entrenched America wishes to be in Syria’s — and the Middle East’s — future governance.

If one traces back in time, everything that is happening in Syria is simply a rehash of the way that Libya and Iraq were destroyed, with leaders of both countries ignominiously dead. Almost a decade back, US attacked Iraq to overthrow the corrupt government and later installed a dummy pro-American Government — today, America has a complete control over the entire oil reserve of Iraq. Similarly, it is exploiting Libya in all possible ways it can. Is Syria too facing the American wrath because of the huge oil and energy reserves that its geography encompasses? Of course, yes.

Arindam Chaudhury (The author is a management guru and honorary director of IIPM Think Tank)